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Wolfson DAC confirmed for Galaxy S3!

NZtechfreak

Android Expert
Apr 23, 2010
1,825
763
Auckland, New Zealand
Wolfson DAC confirmed by Supercurio.

Audio codec:

Wolfson Micro WM1811
Audio Hubs | WM1811 | Wolfson Microelectronics
100dB SNR Class W Heapdhone amp output, ReTune DSP, 3x digital interface.
Like WM8994 in Galaxy S / Nexus S, except:
1x stereo DAC instead of 2x.
2x 2W Speaker amp instead of 2x 1W
Smaller and probably cheaper, same sound quality expected.

Audio driver configuration & policy implementation based on TinyUCM (/etc/tinyucm.conf)
Probable subset of TinyHAL implementing codec configuration in config files instead of having everything hardcoded in ROM or kernel driver at compile time.

Native sampling rate: 44100 Hz. It means music played will be sent as-is to the DAC instead of being processed by a software up-sampling routine as it is on Galaxy Nexus or other devices with codecs accepting only 48000 Hz.

AWESOME.
 
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I wasn't aware of that. Do you know what DAC is built into the Krait SoC? Is it any good?

By the looks of GSMarena's review and RMAA measurements the DAC in the One S (which also has the Krait S4) looks good, very good even (althought there are lots of potential problems with RMAA measurements, and I'm aware that Supercurio has criticised their methodology in the past, but it's at least a good indication of a decent quality DAC).
 
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By the looks of GSMarena's review and RMAA measurements the DAC in the One S (which also has the Krait S4) looks good, very good even (althought there are lots of potential problems with RMAA measurements, and I'm aware that Supercurio has criticised their methodology in the past, but it's at least a good indication of a decent quality DAC).

Thanks. I just googled and found a post on Head-Fi from a guy that said the S4 Krait DAC will be better than the one in the international HTC One X, but inferior to the international S3 (Wolfson). Not sure if he's right, but it's a bummer if he is.
 
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Thanks. I just googled and found a post on Head-Fi from a guy that said the S4 Krait DAC will be better than the one in the international HTC One X, but inferior to the international S3 (Wolfson). Not sure if he's right, but it's a bummer if he is.

Heh, that's my post at Head-Fi!

I think it is likely to be inferior to the Wolfson'd international S3.

Worth bearing in mind that it remains to be seen whether Samsung's implementation of the Wolfson here does it justice, there is more to it than just the DAC - RF Sheilding, it's placement in proximity to other internals etc etc. It's the reason why the LG 2x sounds rather poor even despite the presence of a Wolfson DAC. Until users get actual ears-on we won't know for sure.
 
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Heh, that's my post at Head-Fi!

I think it is likely to be inferior to the Wolfson'd international S3.

Worth bearing in mind that it remains to be seen whether Samsung's implementation of the Wolfson here does it justice, there is more to it than just the DAC - RF Sheilding, it's placement in proximity to other internals etc etc. It's the reason why the LG 2x sounds rather poor even despite the presence of a Wolfson DAC. Until users get actual ears-on we won't know for sure.

Crazy coincidence. :D

Good info, though, thanks.
 
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Hi Team,

First post here. Many thanks for the info on the S3 Wolfson DAC.

My first question is, would there be any way to play back high resolution 24/96 FLAC files through the Wolfson, when the Android OS hardcodes the hardware audio format to 16-bit/44.1kHz?

Second, if there is a way to playback hires files - how could a guy in California make sure to get a phone with the Wolfson DAC?

Thanks!
 
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Hi Team,

First post here. Many thanks for the info on the S3 Wolfson DAC.

My first question is, would there be any way to play back high resolution 24/96 FLAC files through the Wolfson, when the Android OS hardcodes the hardware audio format to 16-bit/44.1kHz?

Second, if there is a way to playback hires files - how could a guy in California make sure to get a phone with the Wolfson DAC?

Thanks!

I've not tried it myself, but Neutron MP claims to have support up to 32-bit with it's own decoding engine.
 
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